Girl in the Sun
by ThunderThighs
Summary: In any dimension, it is an undeniable truth that Eden Dee is a nobody, but that's just how she likes it. (Felix/OC) rated T for language, may go up in the future but who knows.
1. Chapter 1

**BEFORE**

During the entire pre-excursion lecture from her mother, Eden was looking hopelessly out the window searching for Andy, her only friend. It was a lost cause, most likely his family had pulled the "allergies" card on him again and he got to stay home, lucky bastard. But she couldn't face this challenge alone. Eden couldn't face a fucking maths exam without Andy, she would have no hope with a bushwalk. The car park of her high school, Bremin High, was bustling with activity and it made her nervous. Her frantic eyes landed on a black haired goth in skinny jeans and quickly looked away like they had been burned.

 _Not today, I can't handle this today._

"Water bottle?"

"Check"  
"First aid kit?"

"Check"

"Sunscreen?"

"Check"

"Insect repellant?"  
"Check"

"Stingoes?"  
"Mum! I have everything! I haven't taken anything out of my bag since you last gave me a checklist twenty minutes ago! I am okay!" Eden exclaimed with her hands up, her mother just chuckled and grabbed her daughter and kissed her on the head. "Be safe, see you this afternoon kiddo."

As soon as she exited the car she got a glimpse of andy walking towards the bus. "Hey! Hey!" She called out running towards him, her school bag bobbing on her back. "What's with the gear? Did you decide you're gonna stay in the woods for six months instead of the mandatory six hours?"

"Hilarious, as usual, E." He replied, rolling his eyes at his friend, who curtseyed in response with an equally sarcastic expression.

"But for real though," She persisted.  
"Did you want to bring this up with my Nai Nai? Because I'm perfectly willing for you to get beaten up by her instead of me."

"You know she loves me, is that a yoga mat?"

Andy couldn't respond before he was approached by Mr. Bates "Andy you made it, hand me your permission slip please," He said, "before you get on the bus," Eden bypassed her friend to get on the bus, as she didn't feel the need to listen to a conversation she wasn't included in with her science teacher. She knocked on the glass sliding doors of the bus and the driver opened them with a sympathetic smile. My Bates didn't notice her getting on, she doubted anyone would. It hurt, most of the time, being a nobody. But sometimes it had its perks.

Strolling down the empty bus aisle, she found a seat about halfway down the bus and stuffed her backpack into the shelf above her seat. It was about thirty seconds before her classmates began to file in and she waved her hand up for Andy to find her.

Upsettingly, she found herself sitting behind Felix Ferne, goth freak extraordinaire, and, in her eyes, perfection incarnate. She's felt this way since year seven and it looked as if her little crush wasn't going away anytime soon, so she felt compelled to repress it and tell noone, aside from Andy, of course. The reason the repression of this crush was so necessary was because of the simple class system at Bremin high. Felix may have been unpopular, but he was a different type of unpopular to Eden, and therefore their types may not mix. And what would he want with her anyway? He was a goth that listened to metal music and she was a blonde-haired dux recipient of the last three years, who on top of that , had both glasses AND braces (a lethal combination). It just wouldn't work. And besides, Felix had Ellen, and she guessed she had Andy.

Eden plugged in her earphones and listened to Francoise Hardy for the whole bus ride, it made her feel better, as if she wasn't sitting behind the unattainable thing that she wanted more than anything in the whole world.

(A/N: first chapter, I found it hard to start off so forgive me if this isn't too great, but I hope that I'll be able to gain momentum and improve my writing as the series continues. Constructive criticism very welcome and thanks for reading!)


	2. Chapter 2

**AFTER**

Eden read over the list in her hand a few times

 _2x large chips with extra chicken salt, 4 crabsticks, 5 fish cocktails and 3 scallops, 2 loaves of bread and a bottle of sprite.  
_ It was her job to buy lunch for her uncles and aunties who had congregated at her house for her little sister's seventh birthday. The job was allocated to her because she was the one who nobody would be upset to see gone.

See, Eden was a misfit of biblical proportions, with light blue-green hair woven into tight plaits either side of her head and the sides shaved. She had 2 gold hoops adorning her red-stained lower lip and a purple bar hooked through her eyebrow. This appearance was matched by a personality of hermit like- alienation and trouble with authority. As you can see she didn't do well at parties, which was good because she didn't have any friends anyway.

She turned into the store "Scaly Jim's" which, to put it nicely, resembled her own personal version of hell, only to see the man at the counter being berated by a teenage boy that was, admittedly, mildly cute.

"She's here every day!" the boy was yelling at the amused shopkeeper.

"Kid, I don't know what you're on about, unless you're gonna order something, on your bike." He kept on with his amused smile, wrapping up an order of hot chips in butchers paper. Dismayed, they boy started to walk away, but pepped up when he saw Eden.

"Do you work here?" He asked her with a hopeful look on his face, even though he was taken aback by her outlandish appearance.

"No, sorry, what is it you wanted?" Eden said, knowing full well what he wanted but wanting it to be explained in further detail by him.  
"My Mum, she works here I swear to god. Sarah Riles, do you know her?"

Eden didn't, but then again she knew practically nobody, keeping to herself for all of her fifteen (almost sixteen) years. "I think it rings a bell," She lied, "I don't know exactly, but if you want I can help you find her?" She could see hesitation on his face in the form of wrinkles on his brow and she thought for a moment that this boy couldn't be so idiotic to turn down help from someone, especially in his state, even if the person closely resembled an alien, or perhaps a back up dancer in a Marilyn Manson music video. In fact, she could swear she could see him biting back calling her a freak.

"Sure," He said, sticking out his hand for her to shake, "I'm Jake."

"Eden," She said with a smile, meeting her hand with his in a loose, lackluster handshake. Eden dropped her shopping list from her hand and let it flutter for a second in the breeze, before settling on the linoleum of the restaurant.

Walking out of Scaly Jim's, Eden observed Jake's mode of transportation. "What? Am I gonna ride handlebars or something?" She quipped.

"Uhh," Jake said "Yeah? I guess?"

She sighed and sat atop the handlebars of the extremely small bike, the proportions were so awkward that every time the pair ran over a bump in the road, Eden's head would rise and bump Jake's chin, resulting in groans of pain from both of them.

On the way, Jake explained his predicament. He said that he got lost in the woods overnight, which wasn't an uncommon thing to happen especially in the woods in Bremin. Eden had spent enough time wandering those paths that she knew nearly every nook and cranny and along with her friend Roland had helped lost travellers find their way home. He said that when he got back his mother wasn't home, and their was someone else living in his house. The story was scary enough that it filled Eden with even more conviction that it was her duty to help out as much as she could.

They rode for about twenty minutes, all the way to the police station, where she had suggested they go at the beginning of their journey. Jake stopped and waited for Eden to get off the handlebars before dropping the bike on the cement out the front of the building

"I can't go in." She said suddenly.  
"Why not?" Jake was having trouble being on his own, and looking forward to having some morale support.

"I just can't, I'll wait outside for you, okay?" She looked up at him hopefully. Jake was reconsidering accepting this strange girl's help in the first place, what had she even done aside from suggesting they visit the police station? Maybe he would be better off on his own. He was pondering this as he walked in through the glass double doors and into the air conditioned waiting room. He sat on one of the plastic chairs for a second, waiting for an officer to be available, but when he stood to ask an officer what exactly was going on with his mum, he was shocked to find a crinkled picture of his new friend Eden, tacked to a cork board behind the counter.

Meanwhile, outside the station, Eden was sitting against the brick wall with her legs stretched out in front of her, when a short Asian boy with messy hair walked quickly up. He looked at Jake's bike and said "Is this your bike? Can I have this?" He grabbed it by the handlebars and started to wheel it towards him.

"Hey! No, that belongs to my friend," She said, hopping up from her seated position to grab the bike by its seat and pull it towards her. The boy looked at her for the first time and his eyes widened, and then narrowed, almost as if he was trying to see if he had seen her somewhere before.

"Hey…" The boy started confused, "Do you by any chance know-"

"EDEN!" Jake yelled, running down the stairs of the building, the boy jumped back in fright, "What's your picture doing up in the police station? Is this why you couldn't come in? Because you're a criminal?" He accused, jabbing his pointer finger at her. Eden, just stuttered, unsure of how to explain herself.

"Eden?" The boy she was talking to earlier said, "It's me, Andy?" She had no recollection of anybody named Andy and was apologetic towards him until he said "What on Earth happened to you?"

"Nothing happened to me, I don't even know you," She said to the stranger "And for your information my picture's there, not because i'm a criminal, but because I'm a suspect. You aren't the only one who's lost a parent, count yourself lucky that you weren't blamed for her disappearance like I was for my mother."

"Danielle? What happened to Danielle?" Andy asked.  
"How do you know my mother's name?"  
"Because I know you Eden… A different you… I don't know how to explain,"

"Well you'd better explain because I'm starting to get pretty fucking annoyed by all this. Tell me, how do you know her name?"

"I just do! I've met her! In year four she threw you a birthday party that nobody showed up to but me, and we gorged on all the food she bought and you told me that you'd rather have just me as a friend than everyone in our entire school! How can you not remember that Eden!"

Andy was yelling by now, and Jake stood back observing.  
He never spoke to Eden Dee before the night they got lost in the woods, but he was damn sure that she never had green hair and an eyebrow piercing. In fact, the only thing he really knew about her was how plain she was, and how she won all those academic trophies. It couldn't be the same girl.

"Nobody came to that birthday party," She said with a quiet voice, "I stayed home and cried all day. I think I would remember if it happened differently."

"Look, we have to go, we can't loiter out here the cops'll clear us out, and anyway, I have to find my mum," said Jake. On the walk Andy explained what happened when he returned home after being lost in the Bremin woods overnight, but Eden couldn't pay attention, she was too confused about how Andy knew her, when she knew she had never seen him before. He kept looking at her when he was talking to Jake, almost as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. It put her on edge and she couldn't handle it anymore.

"Guys, I have to go," Eden said looking at her watch.  
"What? You said you'd help me find my mum!" Exclaimed Jake angrily.  
"You can't leave, what if I don't see you again?" Said Andy desperately.  
"Well,I'm sorry but my Dad's probably worried about me so I have to go. I'll catch up with yous later, yeah?"  
"Yeah, definitely, we'll find you." Said Andy.

Eden walked down the road towards her house, feeling the boys' eyes on her back. When she turned back to look at them they were gone and it felt like maybe she hallucinated the whole interaction. But when she came home she came to the bitter realization that she had forgotten to buy lunch for her family. Unlocking the door she crept in the house and into her room. Falling back on the bed she felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes and curled up in a ball.


End file.
